Porsche 993 AC Bracket Repair

Broken Piece of Porsche 993 AC Compressor Bracket

As I was lifting the AC compressor off its base, I heard something metallic falling into the engine bay.  My first thought was that I had missed a bolt or nut somewhere, but I was very careful about that. I looked down into the engine bay to find a piece of the AC compressor bracket.

You could see from the changes in color along the break that it had been cracked for sometime.  I also know of one other 993 owner who experienced the same issue.

Broken Porsche 993 AC Compressor Bracket

I looked into replacing the entire bracket, but that proved prohibitively expensive in time and dollars.  My next thought was JB Weld, but I learned that aluminum is difficult to epoxy (or weld) due to the rapid oxidation of aluminum surfaces.  However, I found an epoxy at Pep Boys that claimed to be effective on aluminum.  The fallback plan was to find someone willing to weld it back together in situ.

I will tell you how I prepared the bracket for the epoxy the second time...

• Prepared, but did not mix the epoxy (it had a 4-minute working time)
• Attached the cut-off tool to a Dremel and created a crosshatch pattern in the areas to be epoxied
• Attached a wire brush tool to a Dremel and buffed the areas to be epoxied
• Mixed the epoxy
• Wiped the joint down with acetone (nail-polish remover -- thanks honey!)
• Applied the epoxy and joined the two parts together
• Waited overnight

Waiting for the Epoxy to Dry

The Repaired Bracket

I know there is some risk that the repair will break during operation, but I think most of the stress on the repair happens with installing or removing the AC compressor.  Fingers crossed!